


His Little Secret

by Bryonia_Alba



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 13:06:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10640454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bryonia_Alba/pseuds/Bryonia_Alba
Summary: Snape will do anything to keep his secret safe.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for tarie's Magical Item Extravaganza, 2005. My prompts were Snape and a Remembrall.

Another wretched day was done, Severus thought sourly, shuffling sheets of parchment into a neat stack. Marking them with his usual copious amounts of red ink could wait until after he'd eaten. He'd lose what little appetite remained if he started now on the little imbeciles' pathetic excuses for essays.

A quick glance at the desk's dark and pitted surface revealed the neat stack awaiting the judgment of scarlet ink, a tidy array of quills, inkpots holding black and red ink, respectively…and a Remembrall.

Severus froze. He thought he'd hidden the damned thing away in his desk drawer before the start of class. He wondered whether any of the little cretins had noticed whilst handing in their assignments. Probably not, he decided after a moment's worry. They were too busy looking forward to whatever inanities passed for entertainment in their tawdry little lives to pay heed to a bit of spun glass.

Relieved, he picked up the marble-sized glass sphere, bouncing it against his palm. He'd keep his ears open for whispers; however, chances were that if someone had seen the Remembrall, they'd think it belonged to a student.

Closing his fingers around the object, he opened his desk drawer and deposited it inside. It was then that he noticed what was wrong.

The Remembrall was still filled with white smoke. _White_.

It had glowed scarlet earlier in the day, when he'd forgotten to replenish the knotgrass in the ingredients cupboard. It had glowed again this afternoon, reminding him that he still needed to stop by Knockturn Alley sometime this evening to pick up and pay for the new gramarye he'd ordered.

He still hadn't picked up the book. Therefore, the smoke inside his Remembrall should still be scarlet. Not white.

_This is not my Remembrall._

It didn't take more than a few seconds' thought to deduce who the Remembrall's true owner was. There was only one student in all of Hogwarts who relied so heavily upon this particular magical object. He could still picture the hapless boy in his mind's eye, juggling parchment and satchel and Salazar knew what else as he approached the desk. He'd set something down whilst handing over his wrinkled bit of parchment with its overlarge scrawl, somehow managed to get himself organised; and picked the object back up before leaving the classroom.

Clearly, Severus thought in growing horror, Neville Longbottom had accidentally picked up the wrong Remembrall without realising his error. It made perfect sense. The idiot Gryffindor was notorious for his forgetfulness; he'd forget his own head if it weren't attached to his body.

Now he was moving blithely around the school with the wrong Remembrall, mistaken in his belief that he had for once remembered everything he ought. It was disaster waiting to happen; and while Severus rather enjoyed watching the lad stutter and stammer and suffer from one misbegotten incident to the next, neither did he want to see anyone risk serious injury for the fool's actions.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't see Longbottom again until Monday. It would be two days before they could exchange Remembralls…and how in Hades would he manage that without revealing to the entire school that he had need of such a device himself?

Two days, Severus thought as he swept from the classroom. He found he had quite lost his appetite.

He had two days to think of a way to keep his secret safe.

By any means necessary.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Severus was already in a foul mood by Monday morning. It didn't improve when he opened the dungeon door to admit the students into the classroom and noticed Potter and Weasley wrestling--- _wrestling!_ \---with Longbottom, who looked nearly apoplectic from the chokehold Potter had on him. Taking ten points from Gryffindor improved his temper only slightly.

That small improvement was dashed at the sight of Dolores Umbridge. She _would_ choose today to sit in on this class, he thought darkly. Glowering, he set the students to finishing their Strengthening Solution, doing his best to ignore the High Inquisitor as she scribbled notes in her corner.

Longbottom's potion, he couldn't help but notice as he made a circuit around the classroom, was actually quite good, for Longbottom anyway. He watched as the boy sweated and stirred; his lips moving silently as he counted each counter-clockwise turn of his cauldron's contents.

Severus' eyes narrowed as he realised he had just stumbled upon the means of retrieving his own Remembrall. Now if he could only manage to get that infernal excuse of a Dark Arts instructor away from his classroom before the period ended…

Umbridge left just before the bell, but not before asking a series of highly personal, annoying questions that really wasn't any business of hers to ask, particularly in front of the students. The interrogation left him even more ill-tempered than before, so it was with the darkest joy that he gave the Potter brat zero marks for the day while watching as the other students, Longbottom included, began bottling their own samples for grading.

The bell rang, sending students scurrying for the door. Severus waited a moment before saying, "Longbottom. A word, if you please."

The boy twitched as if struck, but walked slowly toward the desk, his eyes wary. Severus let him squirm a bit before extending a hand. "Your bag, Mr Longbottom. May I see it?"

Longbottom complied, biting his lip and casting nervous glances toward the door and freedom. Severus managed not to curl his lip; he thought Gryffindors supposedly had more backbone. He opened the bag and peered inside at the jumble of books and quills and…

Yes, there it was. Reaching in, Severus quickly switched Remembralls before pulling his own out and holding it up for Longbottom to see. "Cheating is a serious offence," he said gravely, watching Longbottom's eyes widen in stunned shock. "Did you honestly believe I wouldn't have noticed such sudden improvement in your work?"

"I…I haven't…I _didn't_ …"

"You will cease your babbling this instant." The boy's mouth snapped shut, but the look of stunned hurt didn't abate. Severus almost felt sorry for him. Almost. "I believe a week's worth of detention will teach you the error of your ways."

Longbottom paled, either from fright or rage, Severus didn't care. He had what he needed. Pretending to slip the Remembrall back into the boy's book bag, he handed it back, startled at the force in which it was snatched from his grasp. He remembered seeing the scuffle between him, Potter and Weasley before the start of class and wondered briefly what had brought it on.

"May I go?" Longbottom asked, his voice shaking yet civil.

Severus waved him off, watching him stalk from the classroom before holding up the Remembrall in his hand. "Back in the drawer with you," he said softly.

He wasn't worried about being caught out anymore. Even if Longbottom had his suspicions, after he'd served his detentions he wouldn't dare dream of saying them aloud.

Severus would make certain of it.


End file.
